Albom

The Michigan Daily's Jordan Field recently sat down with Albom to discuss his column, Michigan sports and life's important lessons.

Daily: How did you get into sports journalism?

Albom: It was an accident. I was a musician coming out of school, and I never really aspired to be, or never wrote for any school paper. I didn't even read the school paper. The only time I was ever in the school paper was when they did a story on exciting new ways to decorate your dorm room, and they took a picture of my room because I had record albums up on my wall, so that was the only time I was ever in the school paper. After school I was getting discouraged with the music business so I volunteered for a local newspaper. It was one of those throwaway things at the supermarket, and one thing led to another. I worked for free for six months, I worked for $25 a week for six months, then I went back to graduate school, and while at graduate school, just to make some money, I took a job with a sports magazine. I had no particular interest in sports writing, and I've been in sports ever since.

D: Most people can recognize your writing to be very easy to read, and almost rhythmic. How has your music background affected your writing?

A: That is a very smart observation because that is absolutely true. Physically, my wife has noticed that when I write, I bob back and forth, and she always says to me, "What are you doing?" I just have sort of like a drum beat in my head when I write. For instance if I read a couple of sentences strung together that just don't feel right, then I'll stop bobbing back and forth, and I'll fix it, read it again and start bobbing again when it sounds right. So I just sort of go with that. It must be something internal. Because I really find music and writing very similar. Especially with the column format, you have the freedom to create, you have the theme you can always come back to that is kind of like a chorus, and you have that one little area that goes off on a tangent and that's the bridge and you have to wrap it up in a certain period of time just like a song. So yes, I think there are a lot of similarities.

D: You mentioned you hardly read in school. Who do you read now, and what authors or columnists do you particularly enjoy?

A: I read a lot. First and foremost I try to read things that are not newspapers, because I read a lot of newspapers as it is. So I try to read good writers, good in fiction and non-fiction, not just journalism. That varies, everything from a lot of young fiction writers all the way to someone like Tom Wolfe. In the sports business, I read a lot of my friends' stuff through the Internet, like Mike Downey in Los Angeles or Bob Ryan out in Boston. It's all there on my computer screen.

D: You do so many things, from your weekly column to radio and TV. What is your favorite thing you do? What do you enjoy most?

A: Writing. To me it's the writing first and everything else second. If you really think about it, the writing dominates those other jobs. Because like on ESPN on the sports reporters, or on Prime Monday, you have to write what you say. So whatever it is I want to say, I write it out ahead of time, and on radio I began writing my scripts out and by now I can hear it in my head without needing to script it out anymore. So I think the writing fuels all the other ones. I don't think I'd be any good at any of the other things without really knowing how to write. I might know how to write without being on the radio, but not the other way around.

D: You and Bo Schembechler wrote a book together a couple years ago titled "Bo". What did you learn from that experience with Coach Schembechler?

A: I learned never to do "Bo II".

I'm just kidding. I made a great friend in Bo Schembechler. In seriousness, I learned from Bo that he doesn't have a memory of his own life. He is the only person on the planet, who you write an autobiography with him and you have to interview a hundred people because he can't remember anything. And I also learned why the guys that played for him would go through a wall for him. I didn't play for him, but after spending so much time with him, I kind of felt that way. He had a certain charisma and just a way, that, you didn't always agree with him, but because you know he was so true to himself, you respected him.

Plus, he had the loudest voice of anyone I've ever met. When he yelled, I jumped. We got in a lot of fights over that book. I remember one fight when he was in the shower. He came out of the shower with a towel on and he was yelling at me, but I had to keep from laughing because he was wearing this little towel but he was screaming at me about this book. But you don't laugh at Bo, so I went home and laughed.

D: I'm sure your experience was much different, but what was your experience working with Michigan's Fab Five, when you wrote the book about them?

A: Well that was very different, because that was a book about the Fab Five - with Bo, we wrote it together. One was an autobiography and one was a story about them. I had to ask them for their time, and they weren't obligated to give it to me. You know, I was writing about them and some things were complimentary and some weren't. But I did spend a lot of time with them and I feel like I got to know all of them pretty well, as a group and individually. I watched them grow up. I've seen them change so much. Just to see their attitude in college versus the pros. How even guys like that, who were so cocky and so sure of themselves when they were at Michigan - it's a good lesson to anybody who thinks they're going to make it like that. Because they were as talented as anyone I've ever seen, and it didn't happen quickly for any of them, some of them are still waiting for it to happen. But they were unique, I haven't seen anything like them. Another Fab Five will come along, but in name only. I don't think there will ever be five freshman who shape the way the game looks, and the way the game is played, the way they did in one or two years.

D: What, of all of your work, are you most proud of?

A: This right here (he picks up his new book, Tuesdays with Morrie). You know, I guess all of the other things I wrote were about me, or my take on things - what I particularly thought about something. This was a chance to go back to being a student again. Instead of being the person who knows it all, and writing from a position of authority, you don't have to listen to me (just) because I know what I'm talking about. If you read this book, you'll see I'm asking all the questions. I don't know what I'm talking about. Instead of being the teacher, it's not like any of the other books; I'm the student in this book. I found it more humbling and more gratifying in the end to bring the lessons from someone else - who is really important to you - to the world, more than it is to bring your own words there.

D: You have won so many awards throughout your career and have almost created a standard of excellence for which your fans expect. Do you feel pressure every time you write something with your name on it?

A: I feel pressure anytime I write anything, but it's not because of awards. I win those awards, but they are entered for me by the newspaper. I don't count them when I win. If I lose, the world doesn't end, but yes, I put pressure on myself every time I write. I have my own standards. I have a hard time reading my work in the morning paper. It usually takes a few weeks before I'll even look at it because I'm always convinced I could have done better. I read it and think 'Oh God, how could I have made that mistake' or 'How could I have chosen that word?' It's so obvious in the morning that if I'd cut this paragraph or taken this line out, it would have been so much better. But when you're writing on deadline, at the Palace or at Crisler or something like that, you work with what you've got. So there is always pressure, but you kind of have to like the pressure, otherwise it will kill you.

D: After all of these years in the sports business, who do you root for?

A: I root for the good story. I grew up in Philadelphia, and the true test was with the (NHL's Detroit Red) Wings this year. I was rooting for the Wings and it was because of the players' personalities. With the Wings, some of those guys are such exceptionally good guys, I was rooting for them. And I didn't know anyone on the Flyers, so I was rooting for Detroit. I'm sure anyone in this business will find this, that you root for people who are good people, and it really doesn't matter who they play for. If they are on your home team then you'll root for them, but if they aren't you still root for them because they are good people. When Willie Hernandez dumped a bucket of water over my head, I didn't exactly root for him to do well, and he was playing here in Detroit with the Tigers. So that's what it really boils down to.

D: In both your writing and radio show you deal with sports and also "real life" issues. Do you have a preference on the topic you deal with?

A: People ask me all the time which one I like better, but to me it's the same. It's just whatever mood I'm in. But if I'm going to have an opinion column, I really want it to be something that is worth saying. Sometimes people write columns because it's their day. Like, "Well, it's Tuesday, I have to write a column and come up with something to have an opinion about." That's wrong, that's not how a column should be done. If you don't have a strong opinion about something, you shouldn't be writing a column about it. If it's your turn to write a column and you have nothing to say, then just reflect on something or do something different. Don't just slam somebody because it's Tuesday and you have to write something. That just undermines what journalism is supposed to be about. It's not about filling up a page, it's about having something worthwhile to say.

D: What do you think about all of the allegations surrounding Michigan sports, especially the basketball program?

A: First of all, whether it did or didn't happen, people have to understand it didn't begin with Michigan and it won't end with Michigan. This is a big problem across the country. What really happened, I don't really know.

I've talked to witnesses who claim they have seen these things happen, and I've also heard denials from players whom I trust to be telling me the truth. So it's hard for me to actually know what happened.

I do think in addition to there being a problem of boosters reaching athletes without even a coach knowing it, there is a problem with ever finding out the truth - as I'm sure the lawyers on the case right now are realizing. The NCAA is not the police.

They can't put someone under the hot lights and make them say something. If someone in question says "No comment," that's the end of it. No one can be forced to talk, and it's hard to research.

What ever the law firms find, it may be a conclusion, but it may not be 100 percent correct. But it's as much as they can prove.